Brown bear Rifle

comfisherman said:
Gonna take each of these individually in reverse order:


I've been all over Alaska, after fishing seasons becoming a vagabond and wandering off. There seems to be various regional preferences, have come to the conclusion that there is no truly common alaska bear rifle. Coastal and West it's a ton of 338 win mags, know more that just a few guides with 375 hh. Up on the bering peninsula it was as equal a group of 30-06, 4570, 300 win and a smattering of bigger bore options. Towards interior and kennicott lots of the homesteaders had 4570. Southeast I never did see a certain specific preference, some villages it's all the same rifle as one guy buys a Hawkeye and liked it so the next year 20 bought the same... South central seems to be the land of a bit more moderation in cartridges. Probably because there are more people and less bear interactions, or hunters are focused more on other things and have a smaller chance of bear interaction.

Best I can say is "every guide used to have a 375 and every hunter used to have a 300 win". Doesn't diminish how good a partition in a 300 win is... just that variation is far more prevalent now.

Large percentage of my friend group has or does guide bear. Most have a 375, some with strong opinions but most fairly agnostic to bullet type. One fellow I know shoots exclusively swift a frames, knowing he's a cheap booger and shoots remington core lok in everything else I finally asked why a frames.... he shrugged and said one did really well on a hunt and he remarked that it was impressive. The hunter was tangentially tied to swift and happy with the hunt and bear so shipped him what amounted to a decades worth of hunting and practice round a frames. When pushed he liked most, but had a frame's so that's what he rocked.

30 cal or bigger driven at reasonable speed with most bullets available, in a platform your comfortable with... gonna be just fine. Because a professional will be standing right there next to you.
Click to expand...
I live in interior AK
Up here it's Grizzly and Black Bear
If the range is close I carry my custom Marlin 45/70 Trapper with 350gr Speer handloads.
All my other hunting starts with 308 win and ends at 338 RUM.
 
If you're a NR and hunting with an outfitter - most will have minimum caliber expectations. I've taken a nice brown - but over in Russia and at relatively close range. Personally I'd say a .338 WM minimum - but as so many have said...it's all about shot placement. Caliber can be an irrelevant discussion, but if you want to use statistics and mitigate risk, the biggest caliber you can handle reasonably. When I came back from that hunt, I picked up a .416 Rigby for my next brown bear hunt.

That said, I also went light on my cape buffalo and took that with guy a .375 Ruger - so in the end it's all about placement and confidence in your weapon and load. Calibers can become a novelty.
 
lots of very good replies for you . let`s talk brand of Rifle the best in many big bear hunters thoughts in a 3 position safety rifle , 1st choice would be a Winchester model 70 reason anyone can field strip the bolt on a Winchester with no tools , also trigger is open and does not freeze up very easy . another easy brand rifle to use would be Ruger bolt rifle but bolt you do need tools to strip the bolt apart. yes any rifle will work but these 2 brands are more simple to use in nasty wet freezing rain/snow weather. good luck , Pete53
 
hicountry1 said:
I killed my Mtn Grizz with a 300RUM, shooting 200gr Accubonds.

I know it's not a brown bear, but it squared 8.5ft, so it wasn't a small one.

Bullet performance was picture perfect...

If I ever get to hunt big brownies, I think I'd just switch the bullet to 200gr Aframes and not look back
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hicountry1, will a partition perform as well as the Aframe?
 
zeeman said:
Planning on a once in a lifetime brown bear Alaskan hunt in a couple years. Have a 300 Win Mag that shoots 220 Nosler partitions and 200 Nosler partitions quite well. Don't really want to buy another rifle but should I move up to a 338 class? Thinking of either a 33 Nosler, 338 WM or 338 ultra??? Opinions???
Click to expand...
Hope "Once in a Lifetime" is not literal in this case.

When hunting Dangerous Game - I think of Robert Roark's great book on Africa - "Use Enough Gun"..

If I was up against a BIG BRUIN - I would want BIG MEDICIJNE - even a "Six Bit" as one ole surly Kodiak hunter used to call a .375. From what I understand - those shots are not usually that long and a good brand .375 - Winchester, Ruger, etc - even the basic model - should serve you well.
 
Haven`t read all 37 pages mind, but has anyone espoused the benefits of using a .223 with a 77grain TMK? It`s all the rage on some sites for everything pretty much south of an elephant. Extensive pictures of damage to elk and deer and moose, etc., etc. I even asked about Alaskan browns and grizzlies and got affirmative responses.
 
Turkeytider said:
Haven`t read all 37 pages mind, but has anyone espoused the benefits of using a .223 with a 77grain TMK? It`s all the rage on some sites for everything pretty much south of an elephant. Extensive pictures of damage to elk and deer and moose, etc., etc. I even asked about Alaskan browns and grizzlies and got affirmative responses.
Click to expand...
Kind of what I thought as well, but the proponents are pretty adamant. I shoot .223s as well and the thought of shooting a bear, especially one that could eat me, with a .223 pretty much makes me break out in a sweat.
 
Turkeytider said:
Haven`t read all 37 pages mind, but has anyone espoused the benefits of using a .223 with a 77grain TMK? It`s all the rage on some sites for everything pretty much south of an elephant. Extensive pictures of damage to elk and deer and moose, etc., etc. I even asked about Alaskan browns and grizzlies and got affirmative responses.
Click to expand...
All I have to say to that is…YOU GO FIRST!!!! 🤣
 
mtnhntr86 said:
If you're a NR and hunting with an outfitter - most will have minimum caliber expectations. I've taken a nice brown - but over in Russia and at relatively close range. Personally I'd say a .338 WM minimum - but as so many have said...it's all about shot placement. Caliber can be an irrelevant discussion, but if you want to use statistics and mitigate risk, the biggest caliber you can handle reasonably. When I came back from that hunt, I picked up a .416 Rigby for my next brown bear hunt.

That said, I also went light on my cape buffalo and took that with guy a .375 Ruger - so in the end it's all about placement and confidence in your weapon and load. Calibers can become a novelty.
Click to expand...
Your last statement about " placement and confidence " is a major part of the argument for the .223 for.......pretty much everything except an orca!
 
zeeman said:
Planning on a once in a lifetime brown bear Alaskan hunt in a couple years. Have a 300 Win Mag that shoots 220 Nosler partitions and 200 Nosler partitions quite well. Don't really want to buy another rifle but should I move up to a 338 class? Thinking of either a 33 Nosler, 338 WM or 338 ultra??? Opinions???
Click to expand...
Having hunted Kodiak several times I can say your fine with what you have. How far can you shoot with the 220 --- the 200s. Most shots are under 200 yards, 100 is better. I used a 375 HH ,it was given to me, I took my 300 Win with 200 gr Barnes TSX as my backup, 1,5x6 scope . My shot was under 50 yards. SHOOT TILL ITS DOWN FOR GOOD. A old guide told me that , he was mid 80s .
 

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